The great limestone plateaux of our regions hide, at their heart, countless gems, rivers, abysses and galleries which, since the beginning of the last century, have attracted the curious and sports enthusiasts from all over the world. While some caves have been developed to allow everyone to discover the wonders of the underground world, others have remained in their natural state, leaving sports enthusiasts to enjoy the thrill of adventure!

There are many caves and avens within easy reach: the grotte d’Anjeau, the grotte de l’Ours, the aven de Bez, the avent de la Leicasse near St Maurice de Navacelles, the aven Rognès in the Arre valley, the Aven de Rogues on the Causse de Blandas, etc

If you’re coming as a club, we can provide you with a few guidebooks and a place to store your equipment. You can also choose to be accompanied: the Aupalya agency will allow you to see the marvels of the underground world. From introductory caves accessible to all to active networks for fanatics, they have selected the region’s most concretion-rich caves for you 🙂

“These journeys into the bowels of the earth allow you to discover all the techniques involved in progressing: descents into the void, small narrow passages, concretions and, for the most daring, a hundred-metre-long chatière.”

“Caving combines to some extent the technique of the snake (crawling), the ease of the spider (climbing), the fluidity of the cat (cat flap) and the speed of the bear in its wetsuit”

A little more on caving, with these quotes from Charles Martel, the father of modern French caving. Along with Louis Armand, he was the discoverer of many of today’s most famous underground gems (the Dargilan cave, the Aven named Armand, etc.), and his famous crossing of the Abîme de Bramabiau marked the birth of this scientific and sporting underground activity!

“… there are madmen of all kinds…”

“Our equipment didn’t just amaze kids and onlookers. When we had the misfortune to operate on a Sunday, whole villages would gather at the edge of the day’s avenues, indiscreetly crowding the battlefield that we called, not without some superstition, the scene of the disaster.

We ourselves sometimes found ourselves smiling at this accumulation of ropes, pulleys, winches, goats, rope and wooden ladders, pickaxes and sledgehammers, various lighting utensils, brought up into the mountains, along improbable paths, on several supernaturally sprung carriages, not to mention the surveying and photographic equipment, spare clothes, food supplies, wine bottles and small items of luggage.

When we descended into the dark abyss, the old women would sign themselves and mutter between two PATERs: ‘Of course you’ll go down there, our good gentlemen, but you’ll never come back up again’. Or: ‘Y o dé nésci de touto mèno – there are madmen of all kinds’. And the peasants would say to us: ‘Is it to make a hole like that in your country that you’ve come to draw the plan for this one?’ As for the good country priests, with whom we often stayed for want of an inn, they would give us paternal blessings.”
Extract from his book “Les Abîmes” published in 1894